


Precious

by Dolston17



Series: Peraltiago Moments [1]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Confused Jake Peralta, Episode: s03e10 Yippie Kayak, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Morning After, One Shot, Romance, Some Humor, Worried Amy Santiago, slight PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:53:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27456043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dolston17/pseuds/Dolston17
Summary: The morning after the events of 'Yippie Kayak' (3X10).
Relationships: Jake Peralta & Amy Santiago, Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Series: Peraltiago Moments [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2007391
Comments: 11
Kudos: 54





	Precious

**Author's Note:**

> So, one of the sweetest Peraltiago moments has to be when Amy rushes to Jake and says she's worried about him in Yippie Kayak. And Jake just makes it cuter by not knowing why she was worried about him, which got me thinking - does Jake not know how much he means to Amy?
> 
> Anyway, maybe I overthink. But I did get the urge to write this, and I hope you all like it.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

'Jesus Christ! Ames, can you switch off your alarm?' Jake asked - more of a demand, actually - as he buried his head under the pillow.

He didn't get any response in the form of words or actions, and ultimately he had to stretch over to switch the alarm clock off. His eyes were no more open than a squint, but he was accustomed to Amy's room by now, after five months of being together, so his arm just made it's way over to the night stand and did the job. He plopped his body back down properly onto the mattress, something he regretted immediately. The moment the back of his neck made contact with the surface, an immense pain ran through his nerves, making him pop open his eyes.

'Fuck!' he groaned, albeit softly, as he twisted an arm around to massage the part, while getting up as well. 

The events of last night suddenly came to mind now. They - him, Charles, and Gina - were in a last minute shopping chaos, which turned out to be one of Jake's most thrilling moments - a real-life _Die Hard_ hostage situation. He became a cop because of _Die Hard_ (that was a cooler reason than saying he wanted to protect his mom) but he never expected the same events of the film to happen in real life. And it somehow did. Sure, the villains turned out to be of the wrong nationality, and he may not have been able to execute his _Die Hard moment_ , but it happened. He was on a cloud, and somehow everyone around him thought he'd be in pain or traumatized. The only pain he did feel was the one behind his neck right now, that he knew a simple massage would do the trick.

'Here, let me help.'

Along with those words came two soft hands taking over the massaging duty, making Jake moan with pleasure as he leaned back against his girlfriend's body.

'Better?' she asked.

'Mmm...'

That was all he could say really. He didn't know Amy was an expert masseuse. She'd never massaged him before. Well, that wasn't entirely true; she'd massaged him several times before, just in different places than his neck. But he was appreciating this. Since Amy came to the scene last night, she'd been the one taking care of him the most. She'd been worried about him the most too. There were actually times when she was instructing the EMT what to do. And that kiss.... He'd only gotten a glimpse of the people outside when he'd heard a familiar, but worried, voice call him before crashing her lips onto his. It was a deep one; not the _I-need-you-right-now_ type of heated one, but the _thank-god-you're-okay_ type. And she'd even told him those exact words after they parted.

'Sorry I wasn't here when you woke up,' she said softly, still continuing the work on his neck.

'What?' Jake asked, still giving into the feeling of relief to be able to concentrate on anything else.

'Just that, you know, after what happened last night, I should've at least been in the same room when you woke up.'

There it was again - the pity. Why did everyone pity him? Sure, he understood why they needed the EMT at the scene of a hostage situation. But it wasn't a hostage situation for him; it was a _Die Hard_ situation for him. He'd told everyone that he was fine, but they just didn't believe him.

'Amy, it's okay - '

'No, it's not, Jake!'

'Seriously, it's fi- oh!'

He'd turned back to face her, forgetting everything about his neck in a second. Another bad move, as he felt the pain, which had vanished moments ago, return back.

' _Fine_ , huh?' Amy half-teased, before continuing with the massage.

'Okay, maybe the neck is not fine....'

'Just relax, okay? Holt's given us both a day off today.'

'Both of us?'

'Yeah, 'cause you'll need someone to take care of you,' Amy explained. She could feel him sigh at her words, so she spoke again, 'Jake, come on, you cannot deny what happened in there wasn't dangerous.'

'Of course it was dangerous; it was a real-life version of _Die Hard_!'

'Can you stop saying that? Okay, maybe it was, but you don't really need to try and hide how you really feel about this.'

'Ames, what on earth are you talking about?'

'I'm just saying, Jake,' she began, 'Most of us don't like to talk about how we really feel because we think it makes us weak or vulnerable. And that's what you are doing with last night. You're just masking it with some cheap excuse, so you won't really have to get in touch with your feelings.'

He opened his mouth to quickly rebut that suggestion, but the only sound that came out of his mouth was a throaty moan. Amy's fingers were doing wonders for him right now, and he actually felt lucky at that moment to have her. She'd been taking care of him since last night - from driving them to her place, helping him take a shower, helping him get into bed, making sure he fell asleep before she did. This was a person who was willing to do anything to keep him happy and safe. It almost disgusted him that it took him about five months to get here to this conclusion. All this time she was doing all these things and constantly asking him how he felt because she cared for him, not because of pity. She'd been the perfect girlfriend every single minute. The least he could do was be honest.

'I was a bit scared,' he confessed in a soft, almost scared, voice.

'What?' Amy asked, not because she was surprised, but it was more of a _go on, I'm listening_ sort of tone. She made her way beside him on the bed, to both hear and see him properly.

'I was scared,' he repeated. His eyes were focused on the floor, and he was playing with his fingers to keep him distracted. His expression was more stoic than afraid, taking Amy by slight surprise. 'Not at first,' he continued, 'But when I was taken by those men, and I woke up in a room with strangers and Gina, and that man pointed his gun at me....'

'I was scared too, Jake,' she said softly as she took his hands in hers and rubbed them.

'Why?' 

He let out a small chuckle in the question, but his tone was still pretty direct. It still seemed ridiculous to him that Amy was worried about him after. It actually seemed ridiculous to him that anyone would be worried about him.

'What do you mean _why_?' Amy asked, slightly frustrated, 'You had a gun to your head. I was obviously gonna be worried. I mean, wouldn't you be worried if our positions had been swapped?'

'Of course I would,' he answered immediately, looking her in the eyes. It had become customary for him to respond to questions regarding Amy immediately for the past few months. In his mind, it was clear to him that he knew how he felt about Amy and he had no doubts over it.

'Then you get it,' she said simply, presuming he had reached the conclusion himself.

But Jake hadn't. He just answered the question, not read between the lines. As far as he knew, Amy was being all philosophical, something she probably got from the books she read. He didn't read books. He'd only read fifteen of them so far in his life and, rest assured, the people around him had told him that fifteen was not enough. He was never going to get to Amy's understanding level, and he knew it. And yet she was hoping they were on the same page in this conversation. He wasn't even sure which page he was on so far.

'I just.... I just don't get why you'd be worried about me in general. People hate me, my dad hates me; that's why he left me. I don't... I don't understand why you care about me.'

It was Amy's turn to be worried now. When Jake confessed about this to her just now, he was looking all over the place, sort of refusing with his body to maintain eye contact with her. But he did at the end, and it was enough for her to see a mixture of confusion and worry in his eyes. She hated that; she loved those eyes. Those eyes were beautiful and they deserved to be happy. But they were sad now, as he remembered his ill-fated past with his father. She knew it was never something she would be able to solve, no matter how hard she tried. But she was not expecting him to be having doubts over how she felt about him. They'd been together for five months now, she at least hoped he had some sense of how she felt in their relationship. Apparently, he did not.

'Jake, of course I care about you. I mean, you're my boyfriend for crying out loud! And you've meant so much to me over the course of our relationship, okay? I mean, everything you've done so far has meant so much to me. From that speech you gave at Dozerman's funeral, to buying the Christmas gift for me before anyone else, it's more than anything I could ask for. And no other person has meant so much to me, y'know? Well, excluding family, but that's a given. But that doesn't mean I care about you any less. I care about you the most. 

'And I don't think other people hate you. Holt, Charles, Gina, Terry, Rosa, they all care about you. Heck, even Hitchcock and Scully do! You have plenty of people who care about you. And regarding your dad, I thought we agreed that he was the worst. Don't give a fuck about him, okay? But you still have your mom, and she loves you so much, Jake.

'My point is that there are plenty of people who care about you. And that includes me. There are so many things you do that I cherish - from waking up next to you, to holding your hands when I'm cold, to laughing with you, to making bets with you. I can't speak for other but, Jake, to me you are precious.'

They sat there silently, Amy unable to read his expression properly. She had poured her heart out to him, and now she was praying she got to him. And while Jake was smart when it came to crime solving, he could be really naïve about his own feelings, let alone others'. For all she knew, his next words could be _noice, smort_. He shifted a bit, to look at her properly. Somehow, it made Amy even more nervous. Had she gone too far? Did Jake not feel that way?

'You're precious to me too, Ames.'

And just like that, Amy's expression went from nervous to shocked. He could honestly be the sweetest person in the world if he wanted to. Yes, she was the one who had initiated that line first, but he repeated it with no hesitation. It took her a month to receive an _I like you too_ from him, but this time he'd responded to her declaration immediately. But then the doubts came to her mind - if it took him a month to just admit that he liked her back, did he really mean it when he said that she was precious to her? This was Jake Peralta; he could be messing with her right now.

'You're not messing with me, are you?' she asked. 'Because if you are, I swear I'll snap your neck into - '

'Ames, I mean it,' he said quickly.

'Really?' she asked, her tone drastically softened now, and an expression of pure bliss on her face.

'Absolutely,' he said with a warm smile. 'I do have a couple of questions to ask you though,' he said.

'Yeah?'

'Yeah. How the fuck did you become a therapist earlier, saying things like _I'm masking my feelings_ and all that shit?'

'Well, it's what you do, actually, ever since I've know you. Besides, my brother's a therapist.'

'Okay, and next question: when you were listing the things you cherish, did sex with me not come to mind?'

He had a smug smile on his face, after asking that question. But it was wiped off quickly when Amy smacked his face with her pillow.

'Sometimes you can be a real ass,' she commented as she got up and left the room.

'That's not a no!'

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me what you think about it if you want to. Constructive criticism is very, very appreciated. Feel free to leave kudos too.
> 
> Thank you, have a good day.


End file.
